Marvel Studios’ second season of Daredevil Born Again offers a thrilling and captivating story that takes audiences on a familiar yet fresh roller coaster ride of a journey. Season Two sees Matt Murdock/Daredevil continue his fight against Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin, who now has New York City in his grasp. Alongside returning “street-level” Marvel characters such as Jessica Jones, Daredevil is able to overcome Fisk’s corrupt vigilante task force in a bloodstained and triumphant climax, which is followed by an ending that is both satisfactory, confusing, and ever so slightly underwhelming. The series continues to find new ways to entertain the audience and develop the decade-long, fan-favorite rivalry between Matthew Murdock/Daredevil and Wilson Fisk/The Kingpin, while remaining true to its original nature and its primary strengths from its Netflix predecessor. Although the series is not without its flaws, namely in the form of obvious production constraints and lack of character depth, Daredevil Born Again succeeds in reinvigorating the long-coveted Marvel Cinematic Universe, and sets up what is, so far, its exciting comeback and buildup to Avengers: Doomsday.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but up until recently, I had completely lost faith in Marvel. This has been mainly due in part to the inability to translate a comic book story into an episodic format effectively, but also due to the nature of early Disney+ and their choice to put quantity over quality. This also applied to most of the movies that were coming out in that span of time. The one glimmer of hope throughout this period of time was seeing Matthew Murdock, as either himself or Daredevil, popping in and out of each project. Charlie Cox’s appearance in Echo and She-Hulk were easily some of the best parts of these series and are the most clipped portions of those shows on the internet. Vincent D’Onofrio’s appearance in Hawkeye was one of the best surprises of Phase Four Marvel. Now that the two have reunited for two incredible seasons of their second show, I can safely say that Daredevil: Born Again has begun to restore my faith in Marvel Studios.
This second season of Born Again was a lot. I don’t think any viewer or fan will disagree with that statement. Certain characters returned, others got axed off completely (some way too soon), and storylines are beginning to cross over with one another; there is A LOT to digest. One thing is for certain, though: it gave us some of the best visuals, scenes, and character moments that Marvel has seen in a long time. The non-stop, one-shot fight scene with Daredevil and Jack Duquesne/The Swordsman in episode three is one of the most thrilling visuals to come out this year, and is a direct callback to the editing style of the original show. The diner scene with Bullseye in episode four is one of the top five best scenes in all of Marvel television, and can only be equated to the “Magic Trick” scene from The Dark Knight; it is comical, brutal, and brilliant all in one go. It genuinely felt as though showrunner Dario Scardapane had helped Marvel find a sense of style, one that balanced the dark and edginess of the Netflix series, with the fantastical and grandiose scale of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
This was something that season one of Born Again was unable to do consistently, and it failed to delve into the dark and gritty atmosphere that Marvel’s Daredevil had become known for. There are more brutal and gory scenes in season one for sure, one of the last scenes in the series is Fisk crushing Police Commissioner Gallo’s head like a jack-o-lantern after Halloween. It just didn’t have that constant sense of angst and felt as if they were just copy pasting characters from the Netflix era of the show into the current Marvel Cinematic Universe, hoping our sense of nostalgia would mask the uncertainty of the producers. It is something that season two absolutely nailed, and it shows through the entire series of episodes, especially when it comes to Fisk and Daredevil.
If there is one major takeaway from Born Again season two, it is that showrunner Dario Scardapane needs to be put in charge of any Marvel TV project going forward. His understanding of the MCU within the confines of television is incredible, as he has continued to reinvigorate concepts and ideas from the Netflix series. Season two of Daredevil: Born Again just feels more sure of itself creatively, thematically, and directionally. It lets the characters we know and love, simply do the things that we’ve seen them do with a fresh coat of paint to it, and it’s done in such a way that works for the MCU’s continuity and storyline, helping to rebuild the hype the world audience once had for it.
One of the aspects of the MCU ten to fifteen years ago that caused fans to become so engaged and hold it to such high esteem is that each project was connected in creative and nuanced ways, while also having enough time between each that they could grow and become their own without also being rushed beyond the point of repair. There was a clear plan laid out, and fans craved connecting the dots, which eventually led to Endgame, the battle of the titans. Endgame was so successful as a movie because it had all of that hype to back it up, and we are beginning to see that happen now with the upcoming Avengers: Doomsday. This last season of this show makes that certain. The upcoming Punisher special, Punisher: One Last Kill, is supposedly set to mirror the events of Born Again season two directly, and then immediately segue into the events of Spider-Man: Brand New Day. So far, everything seems back on track in terms of continuity. I certainly hope that remains the case once these other two projects are released.
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